2015: Buhari, Okorocha, Atiku, others sign pact

Nigerians got yesterday a piece of advice from the All Progressives Congress (APC) – they should get set to make a choice. The party is holding a convention to pick its presidential candidate in Lagos between December 10 and 11. All the aspirants have signed an agreement not to leave the party after the primary and to support whoever gots the ticket. The winner is to face President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February election. Presenting clearance certificates to aspirants who were screened on Tuesday, Committee Chair Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu said the time had come when Nigerians must decide whether to continue with the state of affairs in the country or effect a change for the better. He said: “There is a choice before us. Are we going to continue the way we have been going in the past 16 years when our security forces are used to intimidate and harass the very citizens who pay for their maintenance? “Are we going to continue a situation where we are the sixth largest exporters of crude oil and yet we import virtually all the petroleum products that we use and, as we do this, we are exporting jobs and rendering our people unemployed. Is this what Nigerians would want to do? “Are we going to allow a situation where the rule of law is violated and there is no orderliness whatsoever? This is a choice for Nigerians. The ruling party has had 16 years and so, it is not a question of making promises. We are judging them on their records because they told us that within two years, there will be regular and reliable supply of power 24 hours a day and seven days a week. This is the 16th year and that promise has not been fulfilled. “So, Nigerians have a choice to make because when you have two things, you can never know until you try them. So, Nigerians ought to try the APC and give us a chance to show that the problems in the country can be solved.” Onu went on: “Today marks the beginning of the important journey the APC is taking to form government at the centre. The APC came into existence on the 31 of July 2013. On that day, a giant was born and the reason for the formation of the APC was to stop the drift which the nation has been passing through in the last 16 years. “Yesterday (Tuesday), for several hours, the Presidential Screening Committee met with five very distinguished Nigerians and members of the APC seeking the nomination of the party to contest for the position of President of Nigeria. During that exercise, we found that these men are so distinguished that there is not one of them that will not make a great difference to our nation. “The goal of the party is to control, government at the national level so that the problems of our country, those problems that people thought cannot be solved, the APC will show that they can be solved.” He desribed the screening as “rigorous”. “I want to also tell you that the scores were very narrow and very high, with the least scoring 62 per cent. The highest scored 78 per cent. The second person scored 77 per cent and the third scored 75 per cent. So, you can see how close it was. I really thank you and congratulate you our aspirants for the quality that is in you. “We told you before the screening that we want the aspirants to sign a letter of commitment for the party. “I am happy to inform you that all the five aspirants were very happy to sign the letters of commitment and that commitment is principally to assure the party that there is none of them that is running for himself. “They are running to offer service and improve on the well-being of our people and being happiness to Nigerians, foster unity and bring peace and secure our country because we cannot be the pride of Africa and be losing our territory to insurgents. “If the aim is really service, it means that they understand that only one of them will fly our flag. They have all agreed that whoever flies our flag, the other four will support him. They have also agreed to collapse their structures into the party so that the party will move to this election united because this will offer the party the best chance to win the election”. The signed commitment was read out to the hearing of all the aspirants by the Secretary of the Committee, Ambassador Fatima Balla. Responding on behalf of the other aspirants, former Head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari expressed appreciation to the leadership of the party for putting together a quality team to carry out the screening. Gen. Buhari said: “I am honoured to speak on behalf of the aspirants. We are grateful to our great party for Organising such a competent team to come and interview us. We went through the process yesterday, discussing foreign affairs, security, economy and what our personal decisions are to the polity. “It is a very trying time for the five of us, but we are grateful that they have been very generous in their award of marks and that we all made it. The rest of the decision now goes to the public and the delegates. “In a week time, we will come together and whoever gets the ticket to run on behalf of the party will emerge. The secretary has read the letter, which we were made to sign yesterday so that the loyalty to the party will be supreme.” No fewer than 8,000 delegates will next week in Lagos elect the candidate. The National Convention Committee fixed the special event for the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere in the country’s commercial capital between December 10 and 11. Committee Chairman and former Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who announced the programme in Abuja, said though some of the aspirants expressed concern about traveling such a long distance for the convention, the committee convinced them on the choice of Lagos. The Presidential Screening Committee cleared all the five aspirants to bid for the ticket. They are: Gen. Buhari , Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha and Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah. The aspirants signed an undertaking not to defect from the party after the convention and to support whoever gets the ticket. Fayemi said:”This is a very unique committee that has representations not just the people chosen by the leadership of the party, but also representations from the five aspirants that are running for the presidential ticket of our party. This is something that is being done transparently, with the input of their advice and their concerns being looked into. “We are not going to a coronation. We are going to an election and that election is going to be done in the full glare of Nigerians. “Those who are not opportune to be there as delegates but are interested in rescuing democracy in this country would have opportunity to watch it live on television, listen live on radio and follow us online and also be part of it internationally for those who are not in Nigeria as well as other Nigerians who are interested in seeing Nigeria get through these challenges through a process that is credible, transparent and acceptable to all. “All our aspirants have also been briefed on the various steps we have taken. Our committee is holding our last meeting here in Abuja today and we are relocating to the venue of our convention from this moment.” In a statement from his media office, Atiku said he was not only delighted that Lagos had been selected to host such an august event, but was confident that the city has all it takes to ensure that the event will be memorable and successful, especially in view of the cosmopolitan nature of the city and the famed easy going nature of its residents. The statement said that the former Vice President considered Lagos as a second home, bearing in mind that he spent several years of his public service career there. “I’m not any less Lagosian than anyone is. I have a house in Lagos and a part of my large family lives in Lagos. I visit Lagos regularly, so I’m not a stranger to the cosmopolitan city and what it represents as the melting pot of Nigeria,” he said. THE AGREEMENT I (name of aspirant) hereby undertake to abide by the rules and regulations contained in the All Progressives Congress APC nomination guideline, APC constitution, the Electoral Act and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; “I, on behalf of myself and my primary campaign organisation undertake to accept the outcome of the primaries and actively support whoever emerges as the winner and shall not decamp to any other political party or in anyway obstruct the smooth execution of the presidential campaign; “I further affirm that during the campaigns and later in government, I shall be guided strictly by the party manifesto; and in the event of my nomination, my campaign team will immediately be collapsed into the party campaign structure for a properly united and focused presidential campaign”.

Winning bidder offers $252m for NITEL, M-Tel

A Special Purpose Vehicle, NATCOM Consortium, on Wednesday offered to pay $252.25m for the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited and its mobile subsidiary, the Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications Limited. With no competitor, and with the offer meeting the reserve price set for the telecommunication companies, NATCOM stands as the potential core investor in the beleaguered public telecommunications companies. Two more hurdles, however, are ahead to be cleared. First, the bid has to be approved by the National Council on Privatisation chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo; and the second is the consortium should be able to pay within the specified time. The other firm that had been prequalified for the exercise, NETTAG Consortium, was disqualified for failure to enclose a bid bond stipulated by the Request for Proposal prepared by the Bureau of Public Enterprises. At the first bid, NATCOM offered a bid of $221m which was said to be lower than the reserve price. It was therefore asked to reverse the bid and in the second round, it offered the winning bid of $252.25m. NATCOM is an SPV formed for the purpose of acquisition of NITEL and M-Tel. The consortium is made up of shareholders – NATSPACE Telecommunication Investment Limited, PCCW Global Limited and Prime Union Investment Limited. Other members of the consortium are Prime Union Investment Limited, Olutoyl Estate Development & Services Limited, Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Legal Resources Alliance & Co and LM Ericsson Nigeria Limited. With the exception of LM Ericsson Nigeria Limited, all the other members of the consortium are equity holders with Prime Union and Olutoyl Estate holding 30 per cent equity each. LM Ericsson is a technical partner to the group. Four of the equity holders, Prime Union Investment Limited, Olutoyl Estate Development & Services, Legal Resources Alliance & Co and Natspace Telecommunication Investment Limited with a combined equity of 80 per cent of the consortium are linked to businessman, Dr. Olatunde Ayeni. Apart from being the Chairman of Skye Bank Plc, Ayeni is also a director of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, one of the electricity distribution companies that were recently sold by the BPE. Speaking at the bid opening ceremony, the Minister of Communications Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, said the Federal Government would continue to fine-tune policies to provide enabling environment for the growth and development of a private sector-driven telecommunications industry. She said, “The privatisation of government-owned telecoms companies, NITEL and M-Tel, is the last segment in the well-thought-out reform of the Nigerian telecommunications sector which commenced in 2000. “The liberalisation of the sector in the last 13 years has attracted new investments of over $32bn entirely from the private sector, resulting in an explosive impact on the sector with over 130 million subscribers compared to just 750,000. “It is our fervent hope that today’s event will lead to the final emergence of a qualified bidder with the requisite technical expertise and financial resources to transform the two companies in line with the vision of government.” The Executive Commissioner, Nigerian Communications Commission, Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi, said with the privatisation, the hope of Nigerians for diversified telecommunications industry had been rekindled. He said NITEL had the resources and pedigree to bring back landlines and champion broadband revolution in the country. Past attempts to sell the First National Operator in the last 13 years had reportedly been marred by insincerity and manipulation of the process by government officials and private sector operators.

10 THINGS MEN SAY WHEN THEY ARE CAUGHT CHEATING!!!

You discover he’s been talking to someone new, who is a female. He hasn’t said anything to you about her before you finding out about her and when you ask him if you can meet her, he objects. It’s because she’s really not a friend, she’s a #girlfriend. Yes, men who cheat will accuse their #partner of cheating. Why? It’s because they start to think, “Well, if I can do it, she could do it too.” All of sudden he pokes at all of the #things you do wrong and you have no idea what his problem is. He can’t cheat if he loves you or he thinks that you are good to him. So he makes himself believe that you aren’t good enough for him and that’s why he had to turn to someone else. In reality, you are more than good enough. At first, you might think he’s being sweet for helping you out. Unfortunately, he’s doing it so he can hide his soiled pants, perfume smell or some other evidence of his liaison with his lady friend. All of a sudden he has more work than he knows what to do with and he can’t come home when he normally does. It’s because he’s not really at work, instead he’s meeting with his #girlfriend without worry that you’ll catch him. He says he loves you and wants to be with you; yet, he strayed and told someone else the same thing. It’s because he wasn’t having the affair because he didn’t love you anymore, he had it because he was disillusioned from reality. In his last attempt to salvage any type of relationship with you, he may blurt out that he doesn’t want to lose you. You might think, “What did you think would happen when you chose to cheat on me?” Again, he never tied sleeping with someone else and losing you together. This may be a complete shock to him that you are actually leaving. She might not mean anything to him or he’s lying. Usually, #men who have affairs may not have wanted to get involved emotionally, but after sleeping with them multiple times, feelings start to develop. So, in most cases, he’s lying that she means nothing to him, what he really means to say is that he doesn’t want her over you. #1 1. She’s Just a Friend. #2 2. Respect My Privacy. Don’t Touch My Phone... He doesn’t want you to touch his phone for fear that you will either see #text messages from her or that she will send one just as you pick it up. He may even have pictures of her on his phone.... E#3 3. You Are Cheating on Me, Aren’t You? #4 4. You Aren’t Good Enough. #5 5. I Can do My Own Laundry. #6 6. I Have to Stay after to Catch up on Work. #7 7. After he is Caught...I Still Love You and Want to Be with You. #8 8. I Didn’t Want to Hurt You...He’s right, when he went out to have the affair, he wasn’t thinking, “I am going to sleep with this other #woman because I want to hurt her so incredibly bad.” Instead, he did it for his own selfish reasons without giving any thought to how it would hurt you. #9 9. I Don’t Want to Lose You...

NIGERIA: Muslim Body Alleges Jewish Symbol On New N100 Note

A Muslim body, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has expressed concern over what it termed a Jewish symbol on the country’s new N100 note. The new N100 note was unveiled to Nigerians recently by President Goodluck Jonathan in commemoration of Nigeria’s 100 years’ anniversary. However, MURIC, in a statement by its Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, alleged the insertion of a Jewish symbol into the new currency, demanding explanation from the Federal Government. It said its office had been inundated with calls by those who had observed the symbol. In a statement issued on Sunday, Akintola said it was paramount for the government to urgently address the issue. “The Federal Government, on November 12, 2014 unveiled the new design for the N100 commemorative centenary banknote which will be officially issued on December 19. “However, the office of the Concern has been inundated with calls for action on the Jewish symbol on the new note. Nigerian Muslims are complaining that the Arabic writing in Hausa language (the Ajami script) that read ‘Naira Dari’ (i.e. one hundred naira) on the N100 note has been removed and replaced with the Jewish symbol, the Star of David. “As a faith-based human rights organisation which believes in the dialogue option, MURIC is duty bound to articulate the demands of Muslims, particularly on matters which have to do with imbalance in treatment of the adherents of the different religions governments (federal or state). “MURIC recalls that Arabic inscriptions which have always been on Nigerian currency since independence were unceremoniously removed in 2005 from N5, N10, N20 and N50 denominations. They remained on N100, N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations. “Nigerian Muslims regard the latest action, namely, the supplanting of Arabic with Jewish symbol from the new N100 as a continuation of the campaign of elimination by substitution against Arabic language and, by implication, against Nigerian Muslims. “It is well known that a large section of the Nigerian population use the Ajami and removing it from the new note will deprive millions of users of the Ajami of the ability to recognise, identify and use the new currency. “Furthermore, putting the Jewish symbol on the new N100 falls short of international standard, as currencies worldwide are designed to suit each nation’s culture and history. “Where does the Jewish symbol fit in? Which Nigerian community speaks the Jewish language? The insertion of the Jewish symbol is, therefore, clannish and parochial. It is tainted with undisguised religious fanaticism. “There is nothing wrong for our president to like Israel as a nation, but it is another thing entirely to openly and brazenly promote Zionism at the highest office in this country when we are still struggling with the last vestiges of colonialism. Nigerian Muslims are becoming increasingly suspicious and very uncomfortable with the actions and inactions of President Jonathan. “Firstly, in spite of the preponderance of Muslims in the South West, he appointed no single Muslim as minister in the whole region for almost four years. Secondly, he marginalised Muslims in the deliberations which took place in the national conference by appointing a meagre 189 Muslims as against 303 Christians. “Thirdly, Mr President saturated the security system in Aso Rock with Israeli security operatives, a nation well known for its animosity towards Muslims. The supplanting of Arabic language with Jewish symbol is the fourth among Jonathan’s anti-Muslim policies. “If once is happenstance, if twice is a coincidence and if the third time is enemy action, what do we call the fourth time? We are sick and tired of our president’s hatred for us. He openly confronts Muslims and goads us to challenge him. “But we will not be provoked. Neither shall we be intimidated by executive maladministration. As apostles of dialogue and advocates of peaceful coexistence, as tax-payers, voters and citizens of this country, we hereby ask President Jonathan to explain the Jewish symbol on Nigeria’s money. “We also demand to know why the presidency could not employ security experts from neutral countries like Britain or France instead of Israel, which is a sworn enemy of Muslims. Mr President may also deem it fit to tell us if there is no correlation between the Israeli security experts in Aso Rock, the Israeli caught with Nigeria’s N9.3 million arms money in South Africa and the Jewish symbol on the new N100 note. “Mr President sir, are you not gradually selling Nigeria to Israel? Are you sure this will not attract the wrath of Israel’s enemies to our dear country? Can this also be partly responsible for the viciousness of the Boko Haram phenomenon? “MURIC appeals to Muslims nationwide to await President Jonathan’s response to the above questions and to remain calm and law abiding. Islam teaches tolerance (Qur’an 3:134) and obedience to constituted authority (Qur’an 4:59),” the statement read. Source: Nigerian Tribune

No fewer than 120 lawmakers have begun a battle to remove President Goodluck Jonathan as they have appended their signatures for his impeachment

No fewer than 120 lawmakers have begun a battle to remove President Goodluck Jonathan as they have appended their signatures for his impeachment, immediately the House reconvenes in December. It was gathered by Vanguard that those who signed the impeachment register are members of the All Progressives Congress, APC. They alleged that the invasion of the National Assembly by security operatives who prevented the lawmakers from entering was backed by the Presidency, adding that Jonathan met secretly with on Wednesday night with Senate President David Mark and Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha on the shape of yesterday’s House sitting. Lawmakers scaling the National Assembly fence to get entrance The lawmakers therefore opted to collate signatures for an impeachment notice against the President, on the grounds of executive recklessness, interference and abuse of police. Reacting to this, Mohammed Zakari, chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, said: “ the notice of impeachment was not on the order paper today but I’m not foreclosing that some other things took place .” A principal officer of the House said: “With how the police and security agents molested members of the House of Representatives, President Goodluck Jonathan has lost our goodwill. We have resolved to stop this impunity in the land .” Another House member, who confirmed to have signed the register, said: “ This time around, it is going to be battle to the finish. Going by the principle of Separation of Powers, the police and security agents have no business barricading or occupying the National Assembly.